Don't be Bamboozled by Partisan Politics

Don't be Bamboozled by Partisan Politics

It is one of the most puzzling phenomena, something that as the daughter of a black Mississippi minister I know all too well.

I am speaking of the cultural tradition of black and, increasingly, Latino Americans consistently voting for politicians who do not share their core beliefs and who work tirelessly to torpedo their values legislatively. Indeed, voting and values go hand in hand; the latter determines the former. That is true for every American-every American except blacks and Latinos. It is time for minorities to vote our conscience, not culture or color.

Like the 90 percent of African Americans who vote for the Democrat Party, I, too, once was a Democrat. It was only after I moved to Washington, DC, met liberal politicians and worked on policies to help create a better America, that I realized something was wrong-terribly wrong. Millions of God-fearing people of color were being bamboozled into supporting an agenda that opposes their core beliefs. That was the day I decided to join the "right" side, "Republicans."

Here's what concerns me most: I'm afraid that this same bamboozlement is alive and well today-and stronger than ever before. As I've been listening to some of the early speeches from liberal presidential candidates and watching them elbow each other out of the way to speak from black pulpit and the barrios, what we are seeing should alarm all Christians, no matter what their color or nationality.

No political party or politician has a lock on God's Truth; God is far bigger and more infinite than partisan politics. Yet we as people of faith are called to stand in the gap, to humbly yet boldly fight for what is right. Like Esau, liberal politicians continue to ask us to sell our spiritual birthright for a bowl of political porridge.

Take, for example, the battle over abortion. As opinion polls consistently show, the majority of black Americans and Latinos stand in horror at the war in the womb, abortion. In the last four years we've lost almost 3,500 of our brave men and women fighting in Iraq, every one a heart-rending loss. Yet according to the liberal Guttmacher Institute, last year alone there were 1.2 million children aborted in America. Liberal presidential candidates are marching across the nation thundering from the pulpits in the name of standing up for our fallen heroes. So why the silence about the over 4,000,000 children murdered in America since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom?

As Christians we're called to be bold in our faith, even in the face of mockery and derision. As C.S. Lewis once put it, "Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point."

We've reached the testing point. The time is now to be bold in our faith and courageous in our convictions.

The time has come to say that liberal politicians who march and cheer for the "right" to destroy innocent life do not represent our values-and never have. How can these self-anointed "leaders" claim to represent our beliefs and protect people of color when 94 percent of all abortion offices are located in metro areas with high black and Latino populations? We've been bamboozled.

I challenge all Christians to stand up to liberal politicians-the victimhood vendors-who patronizingly speak from the pulpit and preach to us about reducing poverty and crime while ignoring the education achievement gap and the rampant out-of-wedlock birth rate in our communities-70 percent among blacks, 45 percent among Latinos, and 37 percent nationally. I challenge Christians to stand up and demand that liberals stop running their spiritual shell game. Christian forgiveness and personal responsibility are not mutually exclusive.

Liberals like to say that the Bible demands that we take care of the poor. But something these same politicians refuse to acknowledge that the greatest "anti-poverty program" ever invented is the two-parent married family, an institution God created for optimal childrearing and happiness. Why not focus on what each one of us can do right this second: realize that two incomes are twice as much as one income. Americans who raise their children in a home with married full-time working parents cut their child's chances of growing up in poverty by two-thirds. Yet sadly, in some communities of color there are children who have never even seen a wedding. Yes, it's really that bad. We've been bamboozled.

Are there well-meaning people of faith who support liberal causes? Absolutely. In fact, I consider many of them dear friends. Does the way a person votes determine their salvation? Of course not-and that is something all of us must never forget. We are called to love as Christ loved.

But after watching liberals spend the last few months tripping over themselves to flood our pulpits with puffery and promises, I'm reminded of what C.S. Lewis once called the "magician's bargain":

"Give up our souls, get power in return. But once our souls, that is, ourselves, have been given up, the power thus conferred will not belong to us. We shall in fact be slaves and puppets of that to which we have given our souls."

As Christians, the time has come for us to practice a fearlessness of faith, a faith that stands strong in the public arena and that supports leaders who vote, share, and fight to protect our values. It is time to break the bonds of bamboozlement. This has to begin with each of us.